Quite Like You
by WallnutShadow
Summary: A songfic inspired by "I've never seen anything – quite like you" by The Script. Teddy's reflections on Lily Luna as they both grow up.
1. Part 1

A/N: I might not update Solving Riddle for a while over Christmas and new year, as I don't have any new chapters typed out yet and I have to spend time with the boyfriend and family, etc, but here's a pre-written story so long.

A/N: The HP universe doesn't belong to me, and neither does the song "Quite Like You" by The Script. I also used the character Ris Parkinson from the Teddy/Lily fics by On Rooftops, which are really good, by the way.

Part 1

Teddy Lupin had never liked babies. For one thing, they made Ginny hurt. He had refused to go anywhere near her for the first few hours after the births of James and Al, in spite of the fact that his hero Harry was coaxing him to come and see and hold them. He had heard Ginny's screams once when he had waited outside the door to the ward in Saint Mungos where James was being born, and he couldn't bare the thought of seeing her in pain. When Al was born he stayed in the waiting room.

For another thing, for the first few months, everyone would coo over the new baby and Teddy would skulk forgotten in the shadows, missing his own parents that he never knew more than anything, and wishing that he was really family to his godparents, despite the fact that they were always assuring him that they saw him that way. Babies always screamed too, and made a big noise when Teddy wanted to sleep.

On the morning of the birth of Lily Luna Potter, a nine year old Teddy was sitting in the waiting room again, looking after a three year old James and a two year old Al. Despite his many grumblings, he was secretly glad that Al had refused to go to stay with uncle Ron and aunt Mione, clinging to his dad and prompting James to also refuse so as not to be left out. Teddy enjoyed their antics, and he might not feel as alone as he usually did sitting in the waiting room.

"Look Teddy, car! Like grandpa's," cried Al, holding up a red thing with wheels that he had made out of blocks that were lying in the corner of the waiting room for the amusement of children.

"Very nice Al," said Teddy. "Can you drive it?"

He watched as Al pushed the thing around the floor making engine noises. James snuck up behind him and suddenly grabbed it. Al wailed in dismay. James, who was a little taller than Al held it above his head, pretending to make it fly out of Al's reach.

"Mine!" Give my car!" cried Al. "Teddy, tell James give my car!"

"Give him back his car, James," said Teddy, trying to intervene.

James pouted and ran away with it down a nearby passage.

By the time Teddy had caught him and convinced him to give Al his car back and apologise, Al was crying for his mother.

"But I can't take you to mum, Al; she's busy! Come, I'll buy you some chocolate frogs at the tea room," placated Teddy.

"Want mummy now!" yelled Al.

Despite Teddy's attempts to calm Al down, he wouldn't stop crying. Teddy reluctantly took both Al and James's hands in his and asked the welcome witch to tell him which ward Harry and Ginny were in.

"They're in the Maria Maritus ward on the second floor," said the witch, "But I don't think you should bother them now. Your mum's having your baby sister and … wait!..."

Teddy had scampered away with James and Al before the witch could finish her sentence.

Once on the third floor, Teddy scanned the different doors for the one that said "Maria Maritus". Finally finding it, he apprehensively hovered in front of it, listening. He couldn't hear any screams from inside. He cautiously opened it, and slipped through the door with James and Al tailing him.

"Mummy!" cried Al and ran towards the furthest bed in the ward.

"Wait a minute, Al," said a man with untidy black hair, quickly stepping in front of Al and scooping him up in his arms before he could reach the read headed woman propped up against pillows and holding a tiny bundle.

"Hello Teddy," said Harry fondly, absentmindedly ruffling James's hair. "Have these two been giving you a hard time?"

"Urm," said Teddy, "His attention had been captured by the bundle in Ginny's arms.

Noticing his interest, she smiled and beckoned him closer.

"This is Lily Luna," she said when he had come up to stand next to the bed. "We named her after Harry's mum, and also aunt Luna, because she's my best friend. Aunt Mione's also my best friend, but aunt Luna did so much to help with James and Al lately, and she's always been there for me when Harry was away, and…"

Teddy wasn't really listening. He was gazing down in wonder at the tiny doll like creature Ginny was holding up. It had a fine fuzz of golden red hair already and long black lashes lying against its rosy cheeks as it slept.

"Hello Lily," he said softly, touching her tiny creamy white hand which was curled at her chest.

"At his touch, her eyes flickered open. She had the shiniest eyes he had ever seen!

"Do you want to hold her?" asked Ginny.

"Um, I'm scared I drop her," said Teddy, although for some reason he inexplicably wanted to hold her more than he had wanted anything in his life before.

"its okay, said Harry, who had come up behind Teddy with Al and James. I'm right here. I'll take her if it looks like she's going to fall.

"Teddy tentatively held out his arms, and Ginny gently placed the warm little shape into them.

"Cradle her neck," she said.

Teddy felt a very warm feeling spreading through him as he held the soft little bundle in his arms, and looked into the shiny eyes that had never once left his face since they had opened. His hair turned from its usual black to a bright green.

"Wow Teddy!" said Ginny, "I think she likes you!"

Teddy smiled down at the baby. He awkwardly rocked her from side to side. Her eyes fluttered a few times as if they wanted to close, but she continued staring at Teddy.

"Daddy," said James. "Is Teddy going to marry our new sister one day?"

Harry and Ginny both laughed.

"We'll have to see what happens when Ted grows up, Jamie," said Ginny.

"Ted thinks girls are silly and whiny right now," said Harry. "Like you."

But Lily hadn't made a sound yet. Teddy couldn't imagine her being silly and whiny.

"Lily Luna Potter," sighed Ginny, holding her arms out for Teddy to give her back.

"Lily Luna Lupin would sound much nicer," thought Teddy, as he reluctantly handed her over. The minute he had thought that, he vowed never to tell anyone.

"I want to hold you more than hold


	2. Part 2

Part 2

"Teddy bare!" The first thing Teddy heard as he stepped off the Hogwarts Express at the end of his fourth year was a shriek, and he saw a blur of red before a tiny girl jumped straight into his arms, wrapping her arms and legs around him and clinging on like a monkey.

"Hi there Lilypad!" he smiled down at the girl who had been his best friend for five years, since before she could even talk. Many people found It strange that a fourteen year old would have a five year old best friend, but if anyone ever commented, Teddy would just smile and Lily would glare at them with her hands on her hips, greatly resembling her mother.

"I'm so glad holidays are here at last and that you came home! Do you know what James did this morning? He was so naughty! I told him that when Teddy comes back…"

Teddy wasn't listening. He brushed her long shiny red hair back that had flown around him with her arms and legs as she jumped, and grinned down at her as he carried her to the car, still chattering nonstop about how James was mean and how Al always got all daddy's attention and about how much she had missed him.

James and Al were also thrilled to have him home. They idolised him a little, and were always telling Lily to stop bothering Teddy. Obviously something that she strongly resented.

On the way home, the three Potter children hardly gave Harry and Ginny time to ask Teddy how his year had been. Teddy didn't mind though; Hogwarts was exciting and fun, but he loved coming home to see the people who were his whole world. He often thought about what Harry must have gone through, having also lost his parents before he even knew them, but without a loving family to make him one of their own.

"Come Ted, come!" The car had stopped, and Lily was tugging at his hand and pulling with all the strength that her little body could muster.

"No Lille," said Ginny. "Let Teddy come in and have some tea and something to eat first."

But Teddy had already allowed himself to be pulled into the back yard where he was to play the dragon who wanted to catch the princess, who was Lily. She ran all over the lawn and Teddy pretended not to be able to run fast enough to catch her for a while, before he finally allowed himself to scoop her up and carry her over to the pond and drop her in. She surfaced, and grabbed his ankle. He pretended that she had overcome him with her strength and fell in with a big splash next to her, where she laughed and laughed.

After that, he swam under water and pretended to be the giant squid, grabbing at her ankles and trying to pull her down.

Exhausted, they eventually both flopped down next to the pond as the sun set, and Lily started to weave a crown out of white flowers.

"Ted," she said seriously.

"Lily-pad?"

"You will marry me one day, won't you?"

"Of course!" he laughed. "You're my favourite person in the whole world, aren't you? And the dragon always has to turn into the prince and has to marry the princess."

She smiled a brilliant smile and dreamily sat up and placed the crown on her, now dry, hair. It shone red and gold in the sunset, contrasting with the white flowers and the flowy white dress she wore.

Despite his new found crush on a certain quarter vila cousin of Lily's that he had recently developed at Hogwarts, Teddy looked at Lily and couldn't help imagining an older her, with beautiful long hair, white flowers and a white dress waiting for him at the alter. Of course he put the thought out of his mind at once, and looking away, got up to go inside, where he heard Ginny calling for help with the dinner.

"I'm blessed as a man to have seen you in white…"


	3. Part 3

Part 3

She was nine, and very sad. James and Al had just gone off to Hogwarts. She trailed into the house after Harry with her head down and went straight up to her room. Teddy, who had just said goodbye to his girlfriend Victoire at King's Cross was not quite as miserable as he imagined he would be. He therefore thought that, instead of moping in his room, he should go and find Lily and try to make her feel better.

After climbing the stairs to her attic bedroom, he rapped on the door.

"Go away," she called, her voice strangled.

"Lily-Pad," its Teddy. Please let me come in?" he called back.

"No. I don't want to talk to you," came the answer.

"He twisted the door knob and found it unlocked. Walking in, he saw Lily at her window with big glistening tears pouring down her cheeks and tangled hair half covering her face. He walked over to the window sill and sat down beside her, trying to put his arms around her. She turned away and shrugged his arms off her.

"Look, Lily-Pad," he said. "I know you're sad that James and Al have both gone, but I'm still here, and its only two more years and you'll be going to Hogwarts too."

"Two years is a long time," snapped Lily, looking up defiantly. "And I'll always be the little girl who doesn't know anything." She got up and paced across her room to the other window.

"What have I done wrong, Lille?" asked Teddy. "You seem cross with me. You know it's not my fault that you had to stay behind. I think you're smart enough to start school already."

"Don't talk to me like that," she said, spinning around and glaring at him. "Maybe I'm only nine, but I know lots more than James and Al and Rosy and Hugo." She stalked over to the door, opening it by a crack.

"And I know more than Victoire too," she added. "She's always mean to me and she always tries to make me go away from you when she visits. James saw you kissing her. But she hates your favourite music, and she loves talking about stupid things like makeup, and she talks about other boys all the time when you're not there. I asked her, and she doesn't even know your favourite colour is green. She doesn't know you. She doesn't know you love peanut butter ice-cream, and that you keep a picture of your parents under your pillow, and that you get teary when you find a bird with a broken wing, and that you work hard all the time at school to make dad proud, and that you can't really fly and you say you have headaches when we play quidditch because you don't want anyone to know, and that you stay awake all night when its full moon," she gasped for breath. "And by the time I go to Hogwarts, you'll have moved out and married Vic, and you won't write to me like you did when you were at school until you started going out with her! You've been a total prat, and you never think of me at all, even though I write to you at least every week. and she'll never make you happy because she doesn't love you like she should, because she knows nothing about you, and I know everything! But you'll marry her anyway, because you're a hard headed idiot! And you'll have broken your promise; you said you'd marry me!"

Teddy gaped. "But Lille," that was four years ago, and four years is a long time! You were so little and I was only joking…"

He saw all emotion drain out of her face and could have kicked himself for his harsh explanation. She slammed the door and he could hear her running down the stairs.

He sat there, stunned. He had never seen such anger and pain on his Lily's face, and he thought he knew every expression she could ever make. And how was he to make her understand about Vic, and to forgive him and be his best friend again? She was so young; and he had always thought she thought of him as just her favourite brother. Perhaps he didn't know Lily at all, he thought sadly.

Oh well, he comforted himself. He'd ask Harry to talk to her and try to explain. She would get over her crush eventually. After all, she was only nine. What did she know.

As he got up to leave her room, her clear voice rang unbidden in his mind. "she'll never make you happy because she doesn't love you like she should, because she knows nothing about you, and I know everything!"

And his thoughts as he barricaded himself in his room for the rest of the day were not for Vic, who talked about other boys in his absence.

"I think you know me more than know,

And you see me more than see."


	4. Part 4

Part 4

Teddy and Lily still saw one another all the time, as contrary to her predictions, he hadn't married Vic the second she finished school. He moved in with her, but he was still young, after all, and he didn't really want to be tied down yet. He would often visit the Potters for dinner, often without Vic, and he would joke and laugh with James, Al and Lily.

He and Lily had lost the closeness they had always had after her outburst, but at least they were friendly, and she still laughed at his jokes and he at hers. Still, he found himself spending more time with Al and James. It was mainly Al, as James had been spending most of his time with his fiancé, Alice Longbottom, and Lily spent her days getting up to mischief with her cousins Dominique and Roxanne, even when she was home for the holidays.

One night, close to Christmas, after one of his dinners at the Potters, a 26 year old Teddy ambled home feeling quite cheerful. He had had quite a technical conversation with Al about memory charms, and wondered if he could perhaps find one that he could use on Vic to make her forget the time. He always got in trouble if he wasn't home from the Potters by 11 P.M.

He whistled a happy tune as he climbed the stairs to his flat. Unlocking the door, he dropped his keys on the small table next to the door and strode through to the bedroom, intending to regale Vic with the stories James and Al had told before brushing his teeth and falling into bed. It had been a long day at work.

Before he opened the door to his room, he heard giggling on the other side. He froze for a second or two, and then slowly opened the door…

Less than five minutes later, he was leaving with a bag slung across his shoulder, racing down the stairs and down the road. When he had run a while, he apperated to the lane leading to the Potters' house.

Standing in the garden, he was now unsure of how to proceed without waking the whole family. Perhaps Ginny would be sitting up as she sometimes did, donning some of Harry's work clothes that had gotten torn and listening to the WWN. The kitchen light appeared to be off, but he could see the flicker of a lamp behind a drawn curtain at the lounge window. He actually wanted to talk to Harry, but Harry was usually sleeping by this time of night. James had moved in with Alice a few weeks ago and was not staying over at his parents' house tonight, and he suspected Al had gone out to some nightclub or other. Would Lily have done that too? She was quite the party girl. He was standing indecisively next to the broom shed, trying to decide whether to knock on the window of the sitting room where Ginny was, or to through a pebble at Lily's window, when he heard a voice right behind him.

"And what, may I ask, are you doing skulking around our garden at this time of night, Theodore?" Lily said mock sternly as she moved around to stand in front of him.

Her hair was shining a coppery colour in the moonlight and tumbling in messy waves around her shoulders. She was bare foot and dressed in a very short pale blue night dress with pictures of cats sitting on half moons.

"Vic cheated on me," blurted Teddy. "I found her in bed with one of my best friends!"

Lily just stood there for a few seconds, staring at him, with her unusually shiny eyes. Then, she moved slowly forward and very slowly and tentatively put her arms around him, snuggling her head against his broad chest.

"OH Ted," she said. "Oh darling, I am so, so sorry."

Teddy felt himself crumple in her embrace and buried his face in her hair, which smelt of Jasmin and lemon blossoms. For the first time since he had been fourteen years old, Teddy allowed a single tear to escape one tightly shut eye. Feeling it land on her own cheek, Lily reached up and wiped his cheek with the back of a small hand.

Teddy didn't keep track of time that he spent outside with Lily, but at some point they had both sunk to the grass and she had continued to hold him as she stroked his hair. He fell asleep with his head in her lap as she sat with her back against a tree.

What could have been an hour later, he opened his eyes again and saw her still sitting there, her head tilted slightly back, looking up into the tree.

"I'm so sorry Lille," he said, feeling ashamed and getting to his feet.

"Its fine," she said, getting to her own feet and taking his hand. "Come; let me make you some tea."

She led him through the kitchen door, and helped him sit at the kitchen table like one would a child.

She wordlessly walked over to the kettle and started preparing his favourite Chinese Jasmin tea.

As steam started to rise from the spout of the kettle, she sat across from him at the table.

"I knew she had always looked at other men," said Teddy hopelessly, "But I never thought she'd cheat on me. Not with one of my best friends."

"She's a bitch," said Lily matter of factly.

"Lily, I'm not trying to turn you against your cousin," said Teddy.

"I've always thought that," said Lily unrepentantly. "So are you honestly going to tell me you've been happy with her all this time?"

"Well, no, I suppose," said Teddy honestly. "We have been drifting apart lately, and it seems like we have nothing in common anymore. She isn't interested in my day when I come back from work, and she finds none of my jokes funny anymore. She doesn't like me spending time with friends, and she gets irritable with everything I do these days. But the worst is that I can't ever seem to muster passion for her anymore either. I don't feel I want to know about the manicures she has every day anymore. I don't want to know whose boyfriend left who, and what awful things May said to her about Matilda."

"You know Teddy," I tend to prattle on about things like that too," said Lily.

"Well maybe I just don't want to hear them about Vic," said Teddy earnestly. "You have a way of making everything seem interesting. And every now and then we can actually discuss deeper things. Its always been like that with you; even when you were seven and I was sixteen."

And just like that, they were best friends again. Lily gave him the brightest smile he had seen her give him since the time they played at the pond in the back garden when she was five, as she walked over to the kettle to pour boiling water in his cup." Her demeanour, which had been slightly stiff towards him since their fall out a number of years ago had relaxed, and he felt a warmth radiating from her as she placed the cup in front of him. And it wasn't just the steam from the cup.

"So what are you going to do now then, Ted," she said, once again taking a seat across from him.

"Well, I was hoping I could stay here for a few days until I've found a new place and moved all my things out of the flat. Vic can keep it; I really don't even want it after that…"

"Oh, you can stay in James's room," said Lily. "Mum's converted your old room into a sowing room."

"That would be great," said Teddy. "But I never knew your mum could sew?"

"Oh yes," she's making me a dress for the dance," replied Lily.

"What dance?" asked Teddy curiously.

"There's going to be a Valentine's ball next year," she said, grinning. "At first I thought I'd go alone and make some trouble, but someone already asked me.

Teddy felt an uncomfortable crawling feeling rise up inside him like a snake, filling his throat with poison and stopping him from speaking for a while.

"Oh," she said, smiling. "Lysander Scamander! He's such a gentleman, Teddy. He asked me out last month, and he brought me the most beautiful lily that he found in the forbidden forest, and …"

But Teddy wasn't listening, as the inexplicable poison feeling sank into the pit of his stomach. He had never liked that Scamander boy much; too feminine and a little sissy boy. Walking around behind Lily like a tail whenever aunt Luna brought him with her when she came to visit Ginny. Lily deserved better, he thought crossly, and he would break every single bone in Scamander's body if he hurt Lily. In fact, even if he didn't.

As Teddy tried to fight his strong "brotherly" instincts, Ginny entered the kitchen.

"Oh hello Ted," she said, not seeming very surprised. "What's wrong? You look horribly pale!"

"Before Teddy could say anything, Lily had already said "It's that bitch, mum, she cheated on Ted with his best friend."

"Don't talk like that, Lily!" snapped Ginny.

As Teddy resigned himself to telling Ginny the whole story, he decided that he had never had a worse day in his life.

Many hours later, having finished hearing all of Ginny's rants slightly similar to Lily's about Victoire, Lily asked him if he wanted to help her decorate the tree.

"No dear," said Ginny. "Teddy's probably exhausted and he needs time on his own to think."

That, however, was exactly what Teddy did not need. He immediately jumped to his feet and followed a gleeful Lily into the sitting room where a bare tree stood in the corner and a large box stood in front of it. As he helped her put up silver balls, stars, streamers, father Christmases, and lights, he was almost able to forget about Victoire's betrayal. But as he lifted her off the ground so that she could reach the top to put an angel there, he couldn't bring himself to forget about Lily's date to the ball…

"I could die now more than die

Every time you look at me…"


	5. Part 5

Part 5

It was a Hogsmeade weekend for the Hogwarts students, and Saturday found Teddy apperating there to meet up with Lily, whom he had invited for a drink at The Three Broomsticks.

He ambled into the bar and looked around for her. She wasn't there yet. He went over to the bar and smiled at Hannah, the bar keeper and the wife of professor Longbottom, who Teddy had gotten along with well during his school days. Ordering a butter beer for himself and a glass of elder flower wine for Lily, he seated himself at a table close to the door to wait.

She rushed in five minutes later, her long hair windswept and her eyes shining. She had on a pair of plain blue jeans and a white t-shirt, and her usual green eye liner was missing, but for some reason Teddy thought she looked prettier than ever before.

"Teddy!" she called out in greeting and swept over to his table. "How are you!" She planted a kiss on his cheek.

"I'm fine Lils, you?" He touched the spot that she had kissed him.

"Great," she sank down in the chair opposite him and took a swig of her drink.

"How's school been?" asked Teddy.

"Oh you know; the usual," she replied, kicking at the table leg. "Hugo and Ris are still together, Roxy still gets about three detentions a week because she won't stop pranking the teachers, and Dominique is on her fourth boyfriend this year and says she wants one for each month. She might not make it though; she really seems to like this one. He's Shane Thomas from Gryffindor.

"And you and Scamander?" asked Teddy, trying to keep his voice neutral.

"Oh, we broke up," she said, not looking very sad.

"Why?" This time Teddy had to try not to sound too pleased.

"Well, I actually have feelings for someone else and I realised I was being unfair to him. Roxy's been comforting him though. Don't think it will be long before he has a new girl."

"So who's the new guy?" asked Teddy, trying not to sound disappointed.

"Oh, I'd rather not say," said Lily. "I don't think he likes me back, so it doesn't really matter. I still just thought it wasn't fair to play with Sander's feelings. Now I've got no date to the ball though, and its next Friday."

"Well, I suppose you could try asking the guy you're interested in," said Teddy, trying not to sound jealous.

"Nah, don't think I'll do that," she replied. "I reckon he has other plans. I wish I could just skip the ball."

"But you were so excited about it at Christmas," said Teddy.

"Yeah I know," said Lily, "But I'm really not in the mood to turn up alone anymore. I mean, it is Valentine's day."

"I could go with you." It had slipped out of Teddy's mouth before he could think properly.

"What?" Lily's mouth fell open. "Really? That'd be great! Thanks!"

"But wouldn't the teachers and your parents mind you taking a date that's much older than you?" he asked, trying to backtrack.

"Its none of the teachers' business," said Lily, "And dad actually suggested I ask you when I wrote to him about breaking up with Sander."

Now it was Teddy's turn to gape.

"But don't you have plans for Valentine's day?" she asked.

"No, just work," he replied. "There haven't really been any other girls since Vic."

"How're you doing with that?" asked Lily. "I mean the breakup with Vic and all."

"I'm quite enjoying my freedom," Teddy smiled. "Besides, if she hadn't cheated on me, I never would have had the opportunity to take such a beautiful girl to a ball!"

Lily blushed.

They spent the rest of Teddy's visit happily chatting and joking, and it was with a spring in his step that Teddy walked towards the shrieking shack, the place he always visited to think about his father after seeing Lily. Usually his thoughts were rather melancholy when he went there, but today was different.

He just felt so comfortable with her. He couldn't feel wrong about having agreed to go with her to the ball; it just felt like the right thing to do. And he felt inexplicably happy about it

"When its right its more than right"


	6. Part 6

Part 6

The next Friday night arrived in no time, and Teddy apperated to Hogsmeade again, planning to walk from there to Hogwarts. He had bought a pair of blue dress robes to match his natural eye colour and had decided to turn his hair black for the occasion. He hoped Lily would like his choices. He had arranged with the headmistress that the gates would be opened for him when he sent a patronus to tell her of his arrival, so when he reached the Hogwarts gates, he pulled out his wand and sent a silver wolf through them with the message. Soon, Teddy could see Hagrid coming towards the gates wearing a set of relatively tidy black dress robes to meet him.

"Hi Hagrid!" he grinned broadly to see his old friend.

"Hello young master Lupin!" Hagrid beamed whilst opening the gate with a big key.

"So, yer takin our Lily to the ball now, are yeh," his black eyes twinkled at Teddy.

"Well yes," he said. "She broke up with her boyfriend, so I was her last minute date."

"Told her she should've asked yeh from the start, din I," said Hagrid, leading Teddy into the entrance hall where he had arranged to meet Lily.

Waving his large hand, he disappeared into the great hall, leaving Teddy to stand around a little uncomfortably as couples came down the marble stairs and others waited for their dates from other houses. He felt particularly conspicuous, being the only non-student.

However, his worries immediately dissipated and were replaced by pure awe as Lily floated down the stairs. She was wearing a simple dress, emerald like her house colours, and her hair was partially done up in a sparkly clip whilst loose tendrils fell in curls around her shoulders. The dress had a tight bodice which accentuated her tiny waist, and it flared out from her hips almost to the floor. She also had a simple silver chain around her neck with a dragon charm dangling from the end that Teddy had given her for her seventeenth birthday.

"Wow Lily," he breathed, and stepped forward to meet her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi Ted," she said, flashing a bright smile at him that made his head spin.

"Hi Lils," he said, his voice a little unsteady. "You look really beautiful."

She flushed with pleasure. "You don't look too bad yourself!" She took his arm and he led her into the great hall.

Everyone is looking at us," said Lily.

Teddy didn't even care if it was because of his age that everyone was staring. "Its because I'm hear with the most beautiful girl in school," he said, grinning at her.

"I think its because all the girls are jealous that I get to arrive with a handsome older stranger!" Lily giggled. "You do know that all the single girls my age who know you have a big crush on you?"

Teddy led Lily to a table close to the stage where some of Lily's friends and cousins were seated. He could see Hugo and Lily's friend Ris, Dominique with a dark boy Teddy didn't know, and Roxanne sitting next to Lysander Scamander. Rose was holding hands with Scorpius Malfoy under the table."

"Won't it be awkward for you to sit at the same table as Scamander?" Teddy asked.

"Not at all," said Lily. "It really didn't take Lysander long to transfer his affections to Roxy. I pretended to be mad at her for a bit at first, but they really are sweet together. Roxy plays pranks on him all the time and he just smiles."

They sat down and Teddy poured Lily a glass of elder flower wine, taking a butter beer for himself.

People all around them were dictating their food choices to their plates.

"Steak with pepper sauce and baked potato," said Teddy to his plate, feeling rather silly. It immediately appeared in front of him.

Lily ordered butter chicken curry and rice.

Throughout the meal, Teddy and Lily chatted to each other and almost forgot that they were sharing the table with four other couples.

Suddenly, a band all dressed in orange and carrying orange instruments took to the stage and started playing.

"Would you like to dance?" asked Teddy, grinning at Lily.

"Oh yes," she said, pushing out her chair.

Once on the dance floor, Teddy took Lily's hand and put one hand on her waist, feeling his fingers tingle as they connected with the bare skin of her back, which her dress left exposed. He led her in an upbeat dance, twirling her in circles and spinning her outwards and then drawing her back in. Lily suddenly fell backwards, and Teddy just managed to catch her.

A few dances later, the band played a very slow song and Lily reached up her arms and locked her fingers behind Teddy's neck. He drew her closer and they swayed to the music, occasionally catching each other's eyes and grinning.

"Ted," said Lily softly.

"Yes Lils," he replied.

"You do know I've been one of those girls?"

"One of what girls?" Teddy asked confusedly.

"One of the girls who have had a crush on you," she said. "Actually, I can't remember a time that I didn't."

Teddy felt as if something was going to burst out of his chest. "I feel the same way, Lils."

"Really?" she said, a massive grin spreading across her face.

"Yes," said Teddy.

He took her hand and led her out into the grounds, passing bushes filled with fluttering fairies. He stopped at a fountain and pulled her closer.

"Lily," he said. "Will you please be my girlfriend?"

"I'd love to," she replied.

"I think we'd better wait until you leave school to tell your parents though," said Teddy.

"They won't mind," said Lily. "But maybe you're right."

"It will be fun to keep such a nice secret though," said Teddy, and brought his mouth down to hers in a slow, sweet kiss.

"I've stood there in awe as your date to the prom…"


	7. Part 7

Part 7

Teddy stood in a large tent. There were many rows of silvery chairs in front of him and he could see friends and those who would soon really be family crowding in and taking seats.

"You ready Ted?" asked his best friend and best man, Graham.

"More than ready," he said.

"Are you nervous?" asked Graham.

"Not at all actually," Teddy replied.

Golden balloons hovered above his head, and Teddy knew they would soon burst and release white butterflies. Lily's bridesmaids, Dominique, Roxanne and Ris entered and came to take their places at the front. They were all looking gorgeous in flowing silvery dresses. Teddy knew it was only a matter of minutes before his bride would walk down the isle towards him.

Sure enough, the band abandoned the festive song they had been playing whilst everyone entered the tent, and started playing a slow sweet melody that Teddy and Lily had picked out to be their wedding march.

She appeared in the entrance of the tent, framed by the late afternoon sunlight. Her white wedding gown came in at the waist and flared out from the hips, as the dress that she had worn at the Valentine's dance had done. That was five years ago, but Teddy felt his mouth drop open as it had done on that occasion.

The wedding dress was made of silk with small green and blue gems along the neckline and around her waist. The bottom of the dress was trimmed with lace and she was also wearing a lacy vail and her aunt Muriel's tiara over her red hair. However, Teddy could see through the vail that her hair was falling loose around her shoulders and down to her waist in ringlets today, and the sun behind her made it look as if her face was literally framed by a halo of fire.

As she glided down the isle on Harry's arm, she smiled radiantly and looked straight into Teddy's eyes.

Teddy didn't even notice Ginny's happy tears and the gasps of wonder from the other guests. He hardly even paid attention to the quiet whispers from the bridesmaids behind him. All he could look at was her.

She had always been beautiful to him. From the first time he saw her with her incredibly shiny eyes when she looked at him as a baby, to the first time he had seen her in white, sitting next to him at the pond with flowers in her hair. From the times she had slumped across from him in the Three Broomsticks with messy wind swept hair wearing jeans and no trace of makeup, to the time he had stood in awe as she had descended the marble steps as a totally transformed girl as he waited to take her to her Valentine's dance. However, he couldn't remember a time that she had ever appeared as exquisite to him as she did now. Teddy smiled broadly as he contemplated the fact that in a few minutes, Lily Luna Potter would become Lily Luna Lupin, and he would be the luckiest man alive.

"I've seen you in jeans with no makeup on

And I've stood there in awe as your date to the prom

I'm blessed as a man to have seen you in white

But I've never seen anything quite like you tonight

No I've never seen anything quite like you."


End file.
